Essential oils are extracts from the leaves, roots, stems, flowers, and seeds of various plants. You can access the power of essential oils many ways, but the most common practices include aromatic diffusion, topical application, and in some cases, dietary consumption. These methods bring the pure essence of health-promoting botanicals to your home, family, and life.

The reason many parents are hopping on the essential oils bandwagon is because there has been much research stating that they have a calming effect on children. In an article from Brain Balance titled Essential Oils for ADHD, researchers have found that if used carefully you may very well find that essential oils enhance focus in children with ADHD and attention issues. Essential oils are not a cure, but it seems they can be used to calm your child and may help to improve concentration.

My family have been using Essential Oils for a couple of years now, and I definitely notice a more zen-like feel to our home environment.

Trend #2: Back-to-Basic Play

Parents are continuing to look for ways to avoid screen time with their kids so are searching for playful and productive activities like finger painting, constructing structures with blocks and legos, and encouraging make-believe scenarios. Jump on board and set limits on your kid’s tech time. When their cell phones and iPads are turned off, grab a board game or a bucket of crayons and markers and let your creativity soar. See Also: 6 Ways to Create Unstructured Play Time for your Kids

Trend #3: Less Sugar

Big on the list of healthy parenting is reducing sugar in our kid’s daily diets. It can be overwhelming to cut back on sugar because there are so many ways that it sneaks into items we feed our family such as breakfast cereal, juice, even yogurt and graham crackers.

I noted that The World Health Organization used to recommend that you get no more than 10% of your daily calories from sugar, but now they're considering lowering that to 5%. You can learn more by visiting that link which also references some helpful information from my interview with QDT’s Nutrition Diva.

Trend #4: Story Prompts and Storytelling

I was thrilled to see storytelling as one of the hot trends for 2017! One of my fondest memories from my own childhood was when my parents would tell us bedtime stories that were fabricated from a simple cue that one of my siblings or I would make up. For instance, my mother would pick a topic like the ocean or outer space or a mountain and we would have to start the story: “One day, Emily was walking through the forest and tripped over a ...” My mother would take it from there and craft a silly story or a mystery that would keep us on the edge of our beds. Encourage your kid's creativity by selecting a prompt, like the one just mentioned, from a bag and have them tell you a story based off the idea and vice versa. You'll be amazed with what they come up with. You can find some creative story prompts at Scholastic by visiting Story Starters.